In the play, three strangers respond to a personal ad for people who want to kill themselves, placed by a woman who doesn't want to do the deed alone. Actors Damany Riley, Logan Curran and Deena Flowers elicit sympathy, and Cooksley smartly has them react to one another with a mix of pity, uneasiness and doubt. As the club ringleader, Laura Dewey is devilishly enigmatic (Perhaps she is the devil).

The ending doesn't quite pay off after all that beautifully built tension, but it's a gripping ride.

Other short plays on the program include:

• Denial Seat: Thomas J. Misuraca's comedy about a gay man and his in-denial mother never really goes anywhere. But it's a showcase for Ava Tunstall, who's a hoot as the casually cruel motormouth mom, saying out loud what most air travelers are thinking about their fellow passengers.

• First Date: In Katie Thayer's little comedy, actors Rob Cuhna and Jenny Ornstein admirably portray a parade of misfit losers at a speed-dating event. Cuhna is especially memorable as playboy Breezy E and, dare I say it, a mime. But the premise is so slight I was hoping for a twist ending that never came.

• Transferring Kyle: Jonathan Cook's story of a man who finds out he is being replaced by a new version of himself never finds the pathos needed to make us care. It's a high-concept "Star Trek" episode without memorable characters.

• Extra Cherries: Beejay Aubertin-Clinton is comically the most naïve college football player ever in Rob McFadden's diverting sketch of a night in the life of a lonely cougar, played with the right shade of world-weariness by Megan Schaffer.

• Dream Lover: Michael Weems' play, alternating between the real world and dreams, needs more theatricality than this low-tech production offers. And too many unanswered questions keep the story from satisfying.

• How I Met the Sopranos: Irene L. Pynn cleverly pokes fun at those obsessed with cult TV series and how it's easier to be outraged by fiction than real problems. Director Jim Cunidiff's top-notch cast (Bob Brandenburg, Maria Ragen, Alexander Mrazek) will make those of us still ranting about this year's "Game of Thrones" finale feel a little ashamed, even as we're laughing.

'Summer Shorts 2014'

• What: Program of short, original plays by Playwrights' Round Table

• Where: Lowndes Shakespeare Center, 812 E. Rollins St., Orlando

• When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, through Aug. 3

• Cost: $15; $12 for PRT members, seniors, military personnel and students with ID.

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